


Coffee

by Darcyshire



Series: Nightvale College!AU and Other Prompts [3]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Cecil has a crush on Carlos pass it on, M/M, Pre-Slash, also Earl is a total bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-08 02:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4287627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darcyshire/pseuds/Darcyshire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I have a paper due tomorrow and it's 3 a.m, I need all your coffee cause I ran out." </p><p>Or the one where Carlos has a paper due, Cecil drinks a lot of coffee and Earl is a total bro<br/>(Pt 3 Nightvale College!AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee

“Please tell me you have coffee.”

Not exactly what Cecil expected to hear from a very gorgeous, disheveled, Biochem student at three in the morning - not that he was complaining, of course. Except this wasn’t the first (or last, he was sure) time Carlos had shown up at odd hours of the night requesting even odder items. Coffee was tamer than hydrochloric acid, by far.

“Of course I do but –"

“No time for questions,” Carlos said, pushing past Cecil. “Actually, no _time_ at all! Did you know time doesn’t even exist? It’s a man-made structure! It’s not linear or – it’s not even real, Cecil!” he was talking a mile a minute, opening cabinets rapidly until finding Cecil’s impressive Coffee stash.

Cecil’s coffee stash was something of a college student’s wet dream. Boxes upon boxes of different grounds, brands, and flavors – enough coffee to keep someone awake for weeks. Which seemed to be Carlos’s plan according to the alarming number of boxes he was gathering in his arms. He was still talking, struggling to hold on to the boxes as he went on, glasses crooked and smudged from a night of fidgeting with them.

“-And even the clocks here!” Carlos went on to say, stumbling as his feet caught on his dinosaur print pajama pants. He straightened himself, using one hand to pull the oversized pants up. They were his favorite pair; comfy, oversized, and covered with dinosaurs.

“Cecil! The clocks here don’t work! All the clocks on the wall, all the clocks everywhere! I’ve been taking data for weeks, studying different clocks on different parts of the campus and they all show different times!”

“Carlos,” Cecil said slowly, following Carlos as he made his way towards the door. “Are – are you okay? You’re kind of scaring me.” Cecil had never seen his friend so unhinged. Dark circles shown under his eyes from sleepless nights of, no doubt, pouring over his data. His glossy, perfect hair was ratty and messy, looking as if Carlos had only taken the time to run his fingers through it.

“ _Okay_?” Carlos parroted, standing still. “Of course I’m okay! I only a ten page paper due in –“ He checked his watch before shrugging        “-Fuck if I know. But I ran out of coffee and now I really need to get back to my paper so thank you for the coffee. Goodnight, Cecil.”

“ _Well_ ,” Cecil turned at the sound of his roommate’s voice. Earl smiled, scrubbing a hand over his face as he opened the fridge. “You know he’s about to consume more caffeine than any human should in a period of two weeks, let alone two hours.”

Cecil shrugged, turning the burner on for tea. He knew that was Earl’s endgame going by the time of night and the dark circles under his eyes. It meant he was having trouble sleeping again. Cecil frowned.

“Who am I to judge? According to you, I drink coffee at a suicidal rate.” Cecil set two mugs down, pouring the milk first and adding three spoonful’s of sugar each.

“Yeah, but that’s you, Palmer.” Earl said. “Carlos only drinks two cups a day, max. You can drink a pot by yourself in an hour, easy.” The kettle whistled loudly and Cecil took it off the burner, adding the tea bags as he poured water into their mugs.

“Palmer.” Cecil looked up, handing Earl his mug.

“Harlan.”

“You like him don’t you?”

Cecil sighed, climbing up on the counter, crossing his legs. “Is it that obvious?”

“We’ve been friends for a long time, Palmer.” Earl chuckled, taking a sip of his tea. “Also, you never let anyone touch your coffee.”

. . .

Cecil found Carlos the next morning slumped over his keyboard, the left side of his face mashed into the keys, causing the keys to repeat down the page of his word document, which was currently on page five hundred and counting.

“Oh, Carlos.” Cecil said softly, shaking at the other man’s shoulder. “Time to wake up.”

“No.” he moaned, face scrunching up. “Go away.”

“Come on, you’ll feel much better in bed.”

“Comfy here.” Carlos mumbled.

“The left side of your face disagrees.”

“What?” Carlos raised his head, wincing and bringing his hand to his cheek. “Ouch, _why_?” Cecil chucked, crossing his arms.

“Looks like you crashed,” he eyed the counter, noting the empty boxes of coffee that littered its surface. “Hard.”

“Shhh.” Carlos rubbed at his temples, blinking rapidly. His head pounded, eyes watering at the sunlight streaming through his window. “I feel awful. _Why_?” he whined, burying his face in his arms.

“Dehydration,” Cecil said simply. “Also, squinting into your computer screen for seven hours may be playing a hand in the migraine that is currently ravaging that beautiful head of yours.”

“Just leave me here to die.” Cecil rolled his eyes.

“Look who’s being over dramatic now.” He pulled at Carlos’s arm. “Let’s get you to bed, mister.” Carlos followed with only minimal complaining, rubbing his eyes and grumbling to himself about clocks. He collapsed face-first onto his bed, not bothering to pull his covers around him before groaning loudly.

“Carlos Velasquez, I cannot believe this,” Cecil huffed, attempting to roll him over. “You are the absolute worst, ugh.”

“That was mean.” Carlos whined into his pillow, rolling over. Cecil pulled the covers over him, sighing.

“You know I didn’t mean it, you baby." Cecil said, laughing softly. "Sleep well, Carlos."

It wasn't until Carlos awoke later that day that he realized his paper had been due _tomorrow_ morning instead.


End file.
